The committee checking the qualifications of candidates for Iran's Assembly of Experts, a body which selects the country's supreme leader, announced Tuesday that it had disqualified Hassan Khomeini, grandson of the founder of the Islamic republic Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, due to what it called lack of sufficient knowledge in religious matters. The committee had already disqualified 3,000 candidates for parliament.
The 43-year-old Khomeini, who had kept his distance from politics for years and waited for the right time to enter politics, announced his candidacy recently after being recruited by former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani.
The disqualification is the latest blow to US President Obama and supporters of Tehran's nuclear deal with Western powers who had expressed hope that the agreement would lead to victory by reformists, who are secretly supported by President Hassan Rouhani, in the February 26 election for the parliament and the Assembly of Experts.